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Izumi Suzuki
Izumi Suzuki D. O. B: ''' February 22, 1992 '''Gender: Female Marital Status: Single Last Known Location: On Tour Occupation: Lead Guitarist for Readysteady [POW!?] DNA Alternate Ability: Sound & Sonic Illusion Manipulation Personality Izumi is a girl of two minds, which isn’t to say that she has multiple personalities, but rather that she experiences such a dramatic change in personality when she picks up an instrument that she almost appears to be two people. Hell, her friends even have names for her- “Wimpy-zumi” and “Crazy-zumi”, coined by the band's drummer, Keiko, upon seeing Izumi play at a concert. Wimpy-zumi is Izumi as you’d meet her on the street, and as you’d expect, she’s nothing spectacular. Izumi is normally very timid and not the type to speak unless spoken to, unless she’s got something really important to say. She’s got a bad habit of mumbling, brought on by generally feeling unsure of what people are going to think when she speaks, and it gets worse when she’s approached by fans. She can’t stand public speaking, strangely enough, and silence leaves her nervous and twitchy if she doesn’t have anything to do or anything to play. Because of her general social awkwardness, you can often find her neck deep in some portable game system or another, playing anything from an RPG to a racing game to avoid having to talk to people. And then there’s Crazy-zumi. Boy, is there Crazy-zumi. Put an instrument in her hand or a song she likes on and you can sit and watch Izumi’s mood noticeably change. Crazy-zumi is unpredictable, driven only by an urge to create the likes of which none of her friends have seen elsewhere. While still not much of a talker, her ability to express herself through music completely envelops her and whatever she plays is whatever she feels. If she’s playing Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Freebird”, you won’t find a wider smile, but if she changes things up to The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, you’d be hard-pressed to cheer her up no matter what you do. Word to the wise: don’t piss her off if she’s in a metal mood. The thing about Izumi is that music is her life. She eats, sleeps, walks, talks and breathes to a beat often only she can hear. Interrupt her rhythm and you won’t find her to be very friendly, but give her space and she’ll make magic happen. She really couldn’t handle herself alone, making her very close to her friends and family, but the dormant flower still blooms every time she’s got a guitar in her hands. The sounds of the audience and the rest of the band around her trigger something in Izumi that even she doesn’t really understand, and that utter envelopment in the music is part of why Readysteady [ POW! ] is so well-known for being a band whose live performances shine so much brighter than their albums ever could. History From birth, it was fairly obvious that Izumi had a gift for music. Though it wasn't obvious to doctors as a child, Izumi was born with a neurological condition that projected sounds as a wide array of fantastic shapes and colors, which was the same thing her father had dealt with his whole life. Realizing this as a sign that she had the same ability he had as a child, Izumi's father wasted no time in raising her to be a musician, even as the family adopted Rei so that Izumi had a sister to grow up with. Izumi was basically born and raised as Daddy's Little Girl. Thankfully, despite this her parents loved both her and her sister equally, and Izumi and Rei only grew closer as they grew up together. Thanks to her father's influence, Izumi had music pumping in her veins from a young, young age. Even through school she spent every night practicing the guitar, learning to play more and more complex melodies and at the same time learning to use her ability. Having a power that ran in the family made learning to use it easy, but it was when she found she could use her sounds to manipulate people's senses that she realized her ability surpassed her father's. In school, Izumi kept to herself, did her homework and never really caused trouble. Ironically, because her sister was such a fearless firecracker, times often arose when Izumi was dragged into something her sister had caused, and more than once she'd actually taken the fall for something Rei had done to keep her sister out of trouble. She was generally the person no one noticed, and was friendly enough that she made friends with people like Keiko- rumored to be the daughter of a Yakuza- and a bunch of other girls that were basically social outcasts. Perhaps the biggest reason Izumi chose her friends was for their music, rather than their personality. Keiko in particular was one of the first close friends Izumi had made, excluding Rei, and their relationship quickly evolved into something of a bodyguard scenario. It made such perfect sense for Keiko to be a drummer than Izumi wasn't surprised when she found out- the girl was a bright, bombastic red and she poured her heart and soul into every drumbeat. Megumi and Rina were the friend and friend-of-a-friend that Izumi met in band class, but both of whom quickly grew close to her when she showed her proficiency for the cello (thanks to her dad). Megumi was more of a reckless yellow, whereas Rina played like a controlled, calm blue. The most fulfilling thing Izumi had ever felt was the first gig they played. It was a tiny club, the sort of place you wouldn't know how to find even if you were looking for it, but it didn't matter. The moment she stepped on the stage and played a song in front of the crowd, no matter the size, Izumi truly and completely felt alive. So engrossed was she in the experience that she continued to play as everyone else packed up, sitting on top of her amp alone on the stage and playing solos without rhythm guitar nor drums to back her up for a good 15 minutes after their gig was supposed to have finished. The length and diversity of her solos became a bit of a legend as she did sort of the same thing at the end of every gig, playing until her fingers wouldn't move anymore and only then letting herself leave the stage. After awhile, the band started to see success, which didn't really affect Izumi as much as what happened to the lead singer, Megumi. After a concert, one of the fans attacked Megumi with a knife and, although she survived, her vocal chords were ripped, almost ensuring she would never sing again. For awhile, Izumi was so worried about her friend that she didn't know what to do- until Rei stepped up. Before, she had been 2 years younger than everyone else in the band and was basically their mascot, given her relation to Izumi, but thanks to Izumi and her father, Rei had learned to play guitar and found out she had some incredible talent for singing herself. The girl even fit right into Megumi's role, Rei's fearless yellow sound easily matching Keiko's in-your-face red, Rina's calm, collected blue and even Izumi's chaotic, ever-shifting green. The band almost lost everything, but now they've come back stronger than ever and nothing's gonna stop them from reaching the top. Miscellaneous Through a combination of her ability and her natural skill, Izumi's gotten a bit of a reputation for her ability to make her guitar "talk", playing notes and bending the sounds in ways that make it sound like the instrument is speaking simple words. Izumi listens to a gigantic and varied collection of all kinds of music. She's listed her influences as people such as Joe Satriani, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, Yngwie Malmsteen, Buckethead, Guns 'N' Roses, Michael Angelo Batio, Led Zeppelin, Mastodon, The Beatles, The Pillows, Steve Vai, Megadeth, Carlos Santana and even the Omar Rodriguez Lopez Quintet. She listens to all kinds of rock, from prog rock to death metal to indie alternative, but also listens to a ton of rap, jazz, pop, electronic, country and R&B, too. Over the years Izumi has picked up new instruments here and there, but her first and best instrument will always be her guitar, which she's been playing since she was a kid. Even so, she can still play bass, drums, piano, violin, cello and flute fairly well for a beginner, although the times when she picks those above her guitar are few and far between. She's also a fairly strong singer, though she doesn't hold a candle to her sister. Izumi was born with a neurological condition referred to as Sound → color synesthesia, which is where Izumi involuntarily sees sounds as shifting shapes and colors in her mind's eye. This is believed to be a side effect of the genetic mutation that caused her powers, because her father (who shares her ability) has the same condition, although the two often argue about the colors of certain sounds. Musical Inspiration: Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd Let There Be Rock by AC/DC I Know You're Here by Steve Vai War Pigs by Black Sabbath Weekend by X Japan Lay Down by Priestess Always With Me, Always With You by Joe Satriani The Thrill Is Gone by B.B. King Speed Lives by Michael Angelo Batio The Czar: Usurper/Escape/Martyr/Spiral by Mastodon Advice (FLCL Arrangement) by The Pillows Soothsayer by Buckethead Coma Pony by the Omar Rodriguez Lopez Quintet Boom Boom by John Lee Hooker Category:Original Characters (DNA Alternates)